Close To Paradise
by Kat Lee formerly Pirate Turner
Summary: It may be as close to paradise as they ever get. Romy and RoLo Het!


Title: "Close To Paradise"  
Author: Kat Lee  
Rating: PG-13/T  
Summary: It may be as close to paradise as they ever get.  
Disclaimer: All recognizable characters, names, codenames, places, items, fandoms, titles, and etc. are always © & TM their respective owners, not the author, and are used without permission. Any and all original characters and everything else is © & TM the author and may not be reproduced in any way without the author's express, written permission. The author makes absolutely no profit off of this work of fan fiction, and no copyright infringement is intended.

He played the same game of cards over and over again as he sat alone all night long. It was a puzzlement even to him as to why he continued to play, always expecting a different answer when his nimble fingers flipped the same card up every time. He knew it would be her always before turning the card over, and yet he continued shuffling his deck and starting a new round.

Always, the same, feminine face smiled up at him, and Remy wished it was a different face. She wasn't regal or especially graceful like a Queen should be, but she didn't have to be. His every thought was always on her if he wasn't in a bind, and then as soon as he could pull himself free of whatever danger was wrapped around him, his mind always returned to her again. She was there in his every thought, in his every dream, her name always just a breath away from his tongue, and he wished he could make her be there with him every moment.

As he moved restlessly in his seat, he felt a cool weight press against his chest. He knew she was aware of the ring he kept on a gold chain around his neck these days. She thought it was his past, but as usual, she couldn't be more wrong. The ring wasn't his past; in fact, the thing which it represented also sealed any thought he'd had before of returning to his past. It was the ring he wanted to give her but didn't dare.

After all they'd been through together, after all he'd suffered in trying to make her love him, after all the times he'd proven himself to her and that she was the most important thing to him, the blasted woman still doubted that their relationship could work. Heck, she still even refused to admit they had a relationship! He'd touched in every way he could, once even tasting of her sweet lips when they'd believed the end of time was drawing neigh, and still, she believed she couldn't have a relationship because she couldn't touch any one.

Remy fingered the Queen of Hearts yet again as he murmured to himself, "Well, chere, you have one rather you want it or not." It didn't matter to him that he couldn't touch her. Oh, his interest in her had started out as a usual, tough-to-tackle, reportedly-impossible-to-break conquest, but as he'd grown to know the woman herself, and not just the untouchable, Southern beauty whose natural charms spoke straight to his manhood, he'd actually done the impossible himself. He'd fallen in love.

There was no other for Remy, not man nor woman. There was nobody else with whom he wanted to be, no one else who could hold his interest for more than a fleeting glance even if he did still flirt with other girls to make Rogue angry. It was nice to know that he could still get under her skin even if she wouldn't let him get close to her; it was his way of making certain she still cared for him. Yet Belladonna could take an army of the women he'd had in the past, parade them all in front of him naked, and he'd still rather see Rogue with every bit of her clothing on than any one of them.

His other hand slipped inside his black tee shirt and fingered the gold, diamond ring on his chain. He might never be able to slip the ring on her finger. He might never even work up the courage to ask her to marry him, although he'd never stop asking her out. But the ring around his neck would always be for one woman only. He'd only ever want to share his last name and his life with her.

He sighed and reached for his bourbon only to find his cup had run dry. A bottle appeared by his gloved hand as if by magic. His red eyes glanced up to meet the red eyes of another, shorter, and older man. Remy sighed and shook his head. "Dank you, mon ami."

Logan didn't speak; he only took the chair next to his. It had been empty all night until now.

"I got it bad," Remy muttered, feeling the need to talk to some one.

Logan snorted and downed his own tankard of beer before signaling for the waitress to bring another. Remy's red eyes followed Logan's and he saw the dancing Goddess whom he watched. The Cajun smiled, suddenly no longer feeling so lonely or quite as lost. "I see I'm not de only one."

"Do I need to buy ya another bottle t' shut ya up?" Logan growled, yanking the new tankard the waitress offered him and downing it just as quickly as the first one Remy had witnessed him drinking which was, in truth, his third.

"Nope."

Remy finally flicked a new card over, the Jack of Spades, as he gestured to the waitress. "Keep it flowing, chere." With two men like them on her bill, he knew she would, but he also knew neither of them would ever really look at her a second time or even, truly, a first. As the old saying went, you didn't want hamburger when you had steak, and even if they never got to dine, they had a feast in the promising for which they would both gladly give everything.

They were lost completely to the women who had claimed their hearts and forever would be, even if they never received nothing more than the occasional flirtatious whisper and brushing of gloved hands in return. Remy sucked his bourbon. It was going to be a long life, he thought, often miserable if their love was never to be openly returned, but he smiled when he heard thunder outside and caught Rogue watching him from another part of the bar. They were loved, even if their women never admitted it. That unspoken love might have to last them all a lifetime, but as long as it was a lifetime with Rogue in it for him and Stormy in it for Logan, Gambit knew that it would be lives as close to paradise as they'd ever get.

**The End**


End file.
